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More HR Pros Might Launch Job Search in 2014, Survey Shows

With improved economic conditions come increases in staff turnover. As the market improves, HR professionals will be looking for new jobs of their own, according to the results of a new HR Jobs Pulse Survey, released Jan. 22, 2014, by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The HR Jobs Pulse Survey examines hiring trends in HR as well as HR professionals’ views about their job security and ability to find employment elsewhere. The survey is based on the responses of those in early-career, midcareer, senior and executive HR positions. The functions represented are administrative and general HR, compensation and benefits, employee relations, recruitment, and human resource information systems (HRIS).

More than one-third of the 800-plus human resource practitioners who responded to the online survey, taken in October 2013, said they plan to seek new employment in the near future, and of those, 95 percent intend to remain in the field. In addition, 79 percent of respondents were confident they could land another job.

“We will be seeing definite churn in the HR profession,” said Deb Cohen, SHRM’s senior vice president of knowledge development. “This first HR Pulse Survey will create a foundation from which to understand that churn and enable SHRM to predict what it means for the HR profession and employers.”

While nearly half of the respondents who will be looking to switch jobs said they will be seeking a “better organizational/corporate culture,” job security also appears to be a factor influencing many decisions to leave. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they have some degree of concern about job security (32 percent are “somewhat concerned”; 7 percent are “very concerned”).

Unsurprisingly, those most worried about job security are early-career professionals; those least worried about their positions are senior and executive-level professionals.

HR Respondents’ Career Level

Professional Level

Respondents (%)

Early Career

4.9

Midcareer

43.5

Senior

32.5

Executive

19.1

Source: SHRM HR Jobs Pulse Survey, January 2014

But whether HR jobs will be available for the taking is another story. Only one in five responding organizations said it is currently hiring for HR positions, the pulse survey showed. Of the organizations with openings, the country’s largest employers (those with 25,000 or more employees) are hiring at the highest rate; 62 percent of those companies have openings.

Below are hiring companies’ most sought-after positions:

Source: SHRM HR Jobs Pulse Survey, January 2014

“This is insight we haven’t had before,” Cohen said. “With this pulse survey—the first in a planned series—SHRM is able to better understand the HR profession and how the profession influences organizations.”